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Best machinheads for the cheapest price???

Best machinheads for the cheapest price???


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    18
The Gotoh SG38's that Warmoth sells are lovely little machines. I've never seen the use in putting locking machines on unless you've got a whammy and/or a scalloped board. The better Ping tuners out of China CAN be good, Ibanez uses their best ones and they... tune... Their garbage line is garbage, natch. You can track down lots of different button styles for the Gotohs if that's important to you.

http://www.hosco.co.jp/HOSCO_ENGLISH/index.html
 
Hate to say your poll is useless, but...

Its useless.  Do you mean... 6 in line?  3x3?  Whats the difference between vintage type and vintage style?  Why include vintage type/style with brands, when those brands make their own and reproduction machine heads?
 
Gotoh sg38s are cheap and they work really great. you might save $5 by going cheaper but why bother. Not the best poll I've ever seen though.  :icon_scratch:
 
Super Turbo Deluxe Custom said:
Get off of his poll.  Did I just say that? 

yes you did and +1 for it! He is obviously confused and probably a newb, lets not berate him on the details of his poll. I personally have only used Schaller locking tuners, and love them. String changing is a snap and even though I know theres a huge debate about whether or not they help keep the guitar in tune, I have to say that they certainly seem to help simplify the process. In the end its just a matter of how important is that one hardware choice and how much are you willing to spend, if money's not an option I say spring for the biggest, best, most expensive tuners that suit your tastes, if money is a limiting factor, go cheap-o and put that extra cash towards better pickups, you can always upgrade later.
 
ok ok ok, I apologize!

I still wanna know the diff between vintage type and vintage style

Is that like the difference between Italian type sausage and Italian style sausage?

If so, then get the tuners with a bit of garlic and lower fat content~ :laughing7:
 
I just got some cheap unbranded modern style (or modern type) 6-in-line non-locking machineheads for a project guitar, partly just to see if they were any good. They were around half the price of the cheapest Gotoh set (in the UK)

And... they work. They tune the guitar well enough, stay in tune (with a hardtail bridge) and feel relatively smooth.

I suppose the question is: will they still work well and stay in tune in 10 years time like the Sperzels on my Yamaha Pacifica do? But if they don't, I can always upgrade to something better.
 
For as much trouble as keeping a guitar in tune can be, it seems kind of masochistic to go in search of the lowest priced parts available. Not that high prices equate with quality, but in a free market that's usually how things work because competition keeps most manufacturers/suppliers honest.

I've used a lot of different tuners, and given a choice these days I always pick the Sperzels, although I'm going to try the Schallers on the next build. In any event, if you disregard issues of style and performance, you're probably only going to see $10-$20 spread between the various offerings. So, the more pertinent question would be "which tuner works the best for the longest time?"

Unfortunately, the answer there is "all of them". Like many parts these days, it's tough to get bad ones. The worst of the lot are pretty good, unless you go out of your way to get some old vintage crap.
 
It might be akin to the capacitor analogy.  The cheap ones are crap, so splurging a little more for the mid-level ones is worth it.  However, the cost difference from the mid-level to the high-end ones is hardly performance based.
 
The older Schallers can still be found, and the PWs are nice. I wouldn't touch either if you're looking for something vintage-styled, but they both work fine for me.
 
if I was on a budget, I wouldn't mind getting some cheap ones from GFS (or if you are in engerland, Axetec) for 15$ and replace them later if needed.
but then again, a good set of gotohs is only $30... not that much of a difference
 
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